Government Center Garage, Downtown Crossing to See New Development

By Veronica Grecu, Associate Editor
Hym Investment Group L.L.C. recently filed an approval request with the Boston Redevelopment Authority for a 2.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development at the Government Center Garage in Downtown Boston. Quoted by the Boston Herald, Hym CEO Thomas [...]

Hym Investment Group L.L.C. recently filed an approval request with the Boston Redevelopment Authority for a 2.4 million-square-foot mixed-use development at the Government Center Garage in Downtown Boston. Quoted by the Boston Herald, Hym CEO Thomas O’Brien said the project would include office, residential, hotel and retail space. The Government Center Garage is owned by a joint venture of the National Electrical Benefit Fund and London-based UKI Boston.

According to the Herald, the original plan included building two skyscrapers of 42 and 52 stories, respectively. Also included in the original plan, the District A-1 Police Headquarters and another city-owned property located on New Sudbury Street would have been demolished to make way for a 3.4 million-square-foot development. Mayor Menino and the North End and West End neighborhoods rejected the project because in their opinion, it was too tall and dense. The redesigned project will be 1 million square feet smaller and, according to O’Brien, will not require demolition of any city-owned property. The two towers remained in the plan, but they will be much shorter.

The Herald also reports that another residential project expected to break ground this summer is Hayward Place, a 265-unit, $200 million residential building set to be constructed in Downtown Crossing.

While new developments are booming in Downtown Boston, the $800 million Columbus Center development was declared economically non-feasible by its main investor, the California State Pension Fund, or CalPERS. According to the Boston Globe, the canceled Columbus Center was to be a five-building complex of condominiums, hotel rooms and retail space. The development broke ground 13 years ago and has been foundering for the past two or three due to financial troubles. Reportedly, CalPERS still needs to grant $4 million to $5 million to clean up the site.